Sunday, July 31, 2016

This has been the worst Presidential campaign in my lifetime
and likely in America’s history.

Let’s assume - for the purpose of preventing heads from
exploding – that Hillary Clinton is a criminal, a liar, is responsible for the
killing of people including a U.S. Ambassador, and is married to a former
(impeached) (womanizing) President. For any of those reasons alone, I
understand you may not want her to be President and you will not vote for her.
OK? We good there?

The reason I wrote the above (other than it is reasonable)
is because the “BUT WHAT ABOUT KILLARY, SHE LIED AND PEOPLE DIED AND EMAIL AND
EMAIL” is not an appropriate response here.

Donald Trump is not qualified to be President of the United
States.

And I know, he’s 35, he was born here and so yes “he’s
qualified.”

Donald Trump is not qualified to be President.

I know, you don’t care. Plenty of “qualified” people have
become President and disappointed you, so why not vote in this guy? Why not use
the power of the internet to convince people to blow up the system? We have the
power to do that.

We can control who buys what from where, who gets fired, and
who gets elected. Let’s put this guy in office.

There are many reasons why you should care. Donald Trump
knows little about the responsibility he wishes to undertake, and what he does
know is not going to help you.

So stop telling me that he’s going to let you keep your
gun(s) and that he’s the best President for Israel. Donald Trump is going to do
nothing but disappoint you, especially when you are still wondering why that
wall that will help you get a job hasn’t been built.

And yes, I said there was “a” reason Donald Trump should
never be President.

The reason is that he is running as a Republican, the party
that claims to have the franchise on respect for our military.

Donald Trump should never be President because when the
Muslim father (who has always voted Republican, until now) of a dead Muslim soldier
(both Americans) stood at the podium at the Democratic National Convention,
questioning whether Donald Trump had read the United States Constitution, and
claiming Donald Trump had not sacrificed, Donald Trump responded that he has
indeed sacrificed by having “worked hard” and questioning why the dead soldier’s
mother stood quietly by her husband’s side (intimating that as a Muslim she is
forbidden from speaking.)

Of course Donald Trump wants his supporters to think that
never in the history of men speaking in public - with their wives standing by –
has the wife remained silent. No, this is an appeal to the other Muslim haters
out there besides Donald Trump who are willing to believe that Captain Kahn’s
grieving mother silently stood by her husband’s side while he, a lawyer,
addressed the millions of people listening, because she was forbidden from
speaking, because in Donald Trump’s world, Muslims are bad people and this was
another bad Muslim moment.

To my Jewish brethren claiming Trump is Israel’s best friend
in this election, or unemployed Americans believing that a wall is going to get
them a job, or anyone watching the news convinced that Donald Trump is going to
keep them safe, you are ignoring who this man really is.

You cannot respect our military while disrespecting the
families they left behind.

You cannot claim to be a member of the party that
believes it is the only party that supports the military, and elect a man who
just did to Captain Kahn’s family what Donald Trump did. You can claim that you
don’t care what he says, but what he says is what he thinks, and what he hopes
you think, and unfortunately, what some of you actually do think.

Yes, Donald Trump could shoot someone on 5th
Avenue and not lose voters, he can say anything he wants and any attack on his
statements will be seen by his supporters as trying to take away the power of
the people to vote for him.

Donald Trump is not about the end of political correctness.
The enemy of political correctness is not attacking the family of a dead
soldier. There is nothing political or correct about accusing a grieving mother
of a dead soldier of standing silently by her husband because she is Muslim.
That, is not only incorrect, it is despicable.

The reason Donald Trump should never be President is because
what he did to the Kahn family shows that he doesn’t respect what America
stands for, and this is true no matter how much you hate Hillary Clinton.Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. He is the author of The Practice.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Mr. and Mrs. Khan put themselves into the political fray when they chose to speak at the DNC in a primetime slot to "denounce and renounce" and urge others to "denounce and renounce" Donald Trump. That Donald Trump responded to those direct and pointed attacks is to be expected. He never disparaged Capt. Khan, and while his intimation that Mrs. Khan’s silence might be prompted by religious belief and practice was gratuitous and unnecessary, let’s stop pretending like there aren’t millions of Muslim household abroad and in the US in which such role-based gender inequality isn’t the norm and at odds and conflict with Western cultural tenets of full gender equality for women. If you disagree, Google “Women and Islam.”

Let’s also not pretend like Mr. Khan’s comments are conscious distortions and misrepresentations of Trump policy positions. Trump does not currently have any policy proposal to temporarily ban all Muslims from migrating to the US and hasn’t for months. He has a policy to pause migrations from active terror nations, regardless of religion, until a lock stock vetting program can be developed by US authorities. His policy proposal on Syrian refugees is to prohibit refugee migrations to the US since ISIS has expressly stated its intentions to penetrate the refugee population, and has successfully done so already to get to other Western nations. But that’s not the end of his Syrian refugee proposal. It goes on to advocate for, as many before him have for 5+ years now and as Hillary herself currently advocates, creation of a No Fly Zone in region to afford refugees a protected in country space to reside until conflict is resolved. To suggest otherwise as Mr. Khan has done and is doing is to consciously distort the Trump position. Suggesting Trump hasn’t read the Constitution is another consciously slanderous distortion. And regarding the wall along the border with Mexico, the Trump policy position is the wall is to thwart illegal immigration in a manner that builds on already existing fencing blockades along the border. Trump has always strongly supported legal immigration from Mexico and elsewhere. Legal. Again Mr. Khan and his dem puppeteers are consciously distorting this Trump position for their own political purposes. Not complaining…that’s politics. But let’s call a spade a spade, shall we?

Finally, the Trump campaign release a full statement on the Khan family matter on Saturday not that you’d know if by media coverage of the event. In that statement he lauded Capt. Khan and all fallen soldiers of all faiths as heroes. He expressed sympathies for the parents’ pain and suffering. And he rightly defended his right to set the record straight against the distortions of his positions. All seems abundantly fair and appropriate in my 30+ years of adult observations of political give and take.

So count me among the dullards who believe Hillary to be eminently disqualified for the position for the reasons you cite. Donald is a non-politician speaking directly and plainly which also means speaking sometimes inappropriately. But nothing he’s said in stream of consciousness this entire campaign offends as much as all that Hillary has done in office to dissemble and lie to Benghazi families, State, FBI, Congress, and the public, offends as much as all the clear quid pro quo self-enrichment Hillary has undertaken while in office giving lip service to principles of good governance, avoidance of conflicts and transparency.